Chapters 65-71 Summary

Sneaking out of Umm Maryam's house after midnight, Ahmad is arrested and force-marched to Bab al-Futuh and order to join in filling a trench dug by terrorists. All work hard, hoping to live. Ahmad works beside a drinking buddy, Ghunaym Hamidu. Ahmad curses the foolish revolutionaries. Soon voiding his bladder becomes more urgent than getting the British out of Egypt. Chapter 66 shows a stream of friends visiting Ahmad to hear his horrifying story. He finds humor in his sufferings and treats Khadija and Aisha with rare tenderness. The siblings banter about Kamal's friendship with the troops, Yasin's inheritance from his mother and the sincerity of his mourning, the girls' mother-in-law, Zaynab and her unborn child's fate, Khadija and Aisha's listless husbands, and their food cravings in pregnancy. Khadija tries to provoke Fahmy, but he is silent, which to Yasin is a...